Fouling studies of a pervaporation membrane with commercial fermentation media and fermentation broth of hyper-butanol-producing Clostridium beijerinckii BA101

Fouling studies of a pervaporation membrane (area based on internal tube di ameter 0.08 m(2)) were carried out in batch mode using model butanol soluti on in distilled water, commercial fermentation media (P2 and corn steep liq uor, CSL), and P2 and CSL fermentation broth. Butanol fermentations were co nducted using semidefined P2 medium, CSL medium (a low cost commercial nutr ient medium), and the Clostridium beijerinckii BA101 hyper-butanol-producin g mutant strain. The rates of removal of butanol from the commercial fermen tation media (P2 and CSL) were similar to the rates of butanol removal from butanol solution in water. The rates of removal of butanol from the CSL fe rmentation broth were higher than the rates of butanol removal from butanol solution in water and fermentation media. Butanol removal experiments were run from 14 to 240 hours using different media and fermentation broth, and it was concluded that the pervaporation membrane did not foul under the co nditions employed. The selectivities of butanol ranged from 20 to 55 when f eed butanol ranged from 33.0 to 3.33 g/L. The total flux was 25-45 g/m(2).h using air as the sweep gas. In the permeate, the butanol concentration ran ged from 122.9 to 458 g/L.